DRINKING WATER
Quick-Lock Saves Contractor $225,000
Mechanical point repair offers a cost-effective, efficient alternative to traditional lining for fixing pipe defects. These thin-profile stainless-steel sleeves restore structural integrity and seal leaks quickly, significantly reducing project costs while maintaining optimal flow.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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![LoRaWAN-florence]( "AMI Gets Faster With LoRaWAN® Class B Specification")
AMI Gets Faster With LoRaWAN® Class B SpecificationA smart city effectively harnesses and maximizes the use of digital technology and data analytics to enhance urban management, make well-informed choices, and elevate the standard of living for its inhabitants.
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Water Loss Reduced By 87%
In June 2014, MATCHPOINT signed a 12-month performance based contract to reduce Non-Revenue Water (NRW) at Audubon Estates community in McDonough, GA.
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The Murky Future Of Global Water Quality
Population growth, economic development, and climate change are placing increasing pressure on our planet’s water resources. Many studies, including one conducted by IFPRI and Veolia in 2011, depict a future world with elevated tensions due to growing demand for a limited supply of water.
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![Severn Trent Services, Inc.: Water and Wastewater Treatment Solutions]( "Top Research Institute Turns To On-Site Generation For Drinking Water System")
Top Research Institute Turns To On-Site Generation For Drinking Water SystemWhen it came time to choose a new disinfection system for the drinking water facility that serves the campus, Texas A&M University’s water & environmental services department chose a proven water treatment technology: generating sodium hypochlorite on site.
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Conversion To On-Site Sodium Hypochlorite Generation Improves The Safety And Resilience Of Two Wastewater Reuse Plants With A Three-Year Economic Payback
Aqua Engineers is a local Hawaiian company founded almost 40 years ago which delivers operations, engineering, and construction management to the water and wastewater industry throughout Hawaii. Also, as an owner and operator, Aqua Engineers is keenly focused on the return on investment for process equipment decisions, but also on the safety of its operators and surrounding community. Read the full case study to learn why Aqua Engineers chose the Microclor OSHG system provided by UGSI Solutions for both their sites in 2016.
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![ProtectingOurWater]( "Protecting Our Water – Keep Chemicals In The Tank")
Protecting Our Water – Keep Chemicals In The TankLeaking or overfilled tanks can cause environmental problems, contaminate drinking water, and cost a company millions of dollars. Proper instrumentation, monitoring and control can prevent these problems. By Bill Sholette, Level Products Business Manager, and Ricardo Chavez, Solutions Business Manager, Endress+Hauser
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![GettyImages-1334491787_450_300]( "Why Your Water Utility Should Be Using Hydraulic Modeling")
Why Your Water Utility Should Be Using Hydraulic ModelingHydraulic modeling offers a vast range of benefits such as improving system performance, long-term infrastructure planning, predicting and anticipating demographic changes, and more.
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![adedge-arsenic]( "The Effects Of Water Quality On Arsenic Removal")
The Effects Of Water Quality On Arsenic RemovalWhen considering an arsenic treatment option for a water system application, it’s important to obtain and review the proposed design criteria carefully. A good system design will have evaluated critical water quality parameters.
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![LCRR_Communicaton_Requirements_iStock-510968340]( "Avoiding Crisis: Meeting LCR Revision Communication Requirements")
Avoiding Crisis: Meeting LCR Revision Communication RequirementsComplying with communication requirements is as much a part of the proposed Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) as the actual water testing and identification of lead service line (LSL) inventories. Given the magnitude of the proposed changes, it is critical for water distribution utilities to start preparing for its implementation well in advance. Here are some key factors to consider.
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![Master Meter]( "City of San Juan Bautista")
City of San Juan BautistaThe City of San Juan Bautista, California, also known as the City of History, is a mission town nestled in the San Juan Valley. Some of the city’s infrastructure is over 100 years old. The city’s water meters were an aging mix of units from various manufacturers. The meters were losing accuracy and becoming unreliable, leading to a loss of billing revenue. In addition, manually reading the meters was a very inefficient way for the city’s small staff to spend their time. Also, like most California cities, water conservation in San Juan Bautista is a top priority. Helping customers find leaks and understand how much water they really use is an important step towards conservation.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Lab Gas Sub-Metering Accuracy Improves With Thermal Flow Meters To Save Money12/1/2017
Facility administrators will find the advanced ST100 Series Thermal Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) helps them improve the accuracy of specialty gas point of use and sub-metering operations to achieve accurate billing in their labs for better cost tracking and control.
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Flow Monitoring At Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Plant Improves Water Distribution1/6/2025
Read about a desalination plant that was in need of a practical verification methodology for permanent and/or temporary (portable) solutions on large pipes.
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Application Note: Troubleshooting A pH Electrode1/26/2011
Many factors affect performance of a pH electrode. When performance degrades, it is always a challenge for the analyst to identify the cause. Common troubleshooting procedures, which include evaluation of slope, electrode drift, time response, and accuracy, take considerable time. By Thermo Fisher Scientific
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Application Note: YSI Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring And The IPSWATCH-EMPACT Program12/28/2005The Ipswich and Parker Rivers watersheds lie only a short distance north of Boston, MA. The first settlements in these watersheds began in the early 1600s. Since that time, residents have relied heavily on the natural resources of the Parker and Ipswich Rivers, their coastal estuaries and Plum Island Sound, which is known as the Great Marsh. This ecosystem has been designated and protected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).
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Organics Aren't Invisible: A Guide for Simple Online Monitoring5/13/2019
Control of dissolved organics has been one of the highest priority concerns for most water treatment plants for over 20 years. Organics monitoring is an even more critical issue today in the face of more stringent regulations and concerns around trace organics, emerging contaminants, and even counter-terrorism or water security. Despite the critical need, many plants still rely primarily on turbidity for monitoring and process control.
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The 'First Line Of Defense' In Protecting Membrane Filters8/9/2019
Multi-element, self-cleaning pretreatment filters optimize membrane filter life and production while minimizing maintenance and downtime.
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Aries Arsenic Reduction1/7/2026
Arsenic has no smell, taste, or color when dissolved in water even in high concentrations. It is a potential concern to those who live in areas with high natural deposits of arsenic, receive runoff from orchards, or from glass and electronic production waste. Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause a number of harmful effects on the human body including cancer, skin lesions, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, among others.
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Operations And LRV Calculations At Southwest Pipeline Project Drinking Water Treatment Facility4/14/2016
This presentation will discuss the operation of a 4 MGD pressurized two-stage Ultrafiltration (UF) plant over a 14 month period at the Oliver-Mercer-North Dunn (OMND) Drinking Water Treatment Facility, North Dakota.
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Leak Detection On Water Distribution Network Using Clamp-On Flowmeters5/22/2023
A global engineering company realized that their leak identification methods were time consuming and expensive, and so began to explore alternative solutions, such as ultrasonic flow meters.
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Application Note: Low-Flow Sampling Of Water Quality Parameters Used In Determining Groundwater Stability1/20/2010In April 1996, the U.S. EPA developed and published a document entitled Low-Flow (Minimal Drawdown) Ground-Water Sampling Procedures. The document states that “the most common ground water purging and sampling methodology is to purge wells using bailers or high speed pumps to remove 3 to 5 casing volumes followed by sample collection.” Adverse impacts can occur through this method affecting sample quality by increasing levels of turbidity. These problems can often be mitigated by using low-flow purging and sampling to reduce sampling-induced turbidity. By YSI
DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS
What happens when you combine the proven track record of the TransPort® PT878 (TransPort PT900’s powerful predecessor) with the latest technology? You get performance, productivity, and a better user experience. The TransPort is the next evolution, and it’s here to make your job easier than ever.
The Series NXT3000 High Capacity Gas Feed System is a family of vacuum-operated, solution-feed, gas dispensing components including a vacuum regulator, meter assembly and ejector to meet customer needs for feeding chlorine, sulfur dioxide, ammonia or carbon dioxide gas. The Series NXT3000 is a versatile, high quality system which operates at sonic conditions eliminating the need for differential pressure regulation across the rate control valve.
For more than 50 years, metallic zinc coating has provided proven, active corrosion protection for ductile iron pipe, helping utilities extend service life in a wide range of soil and environmental conditions.
Rapid-response ion exchange systems provide short-term treatment for PFAS and other contaminants immediately, keeping communities safe and operations uninterrupted.
The ENVIROMAG is an electromagnetic flowmeter. The magmeter is the optimum solution for North American water and wastewater measurement applications. Its design and performance makes it the choice for flow measurement throughout the process.
As the latest addition to Hydra-Stop’s award-winning Insta-Valve family of solutions, customers with 20- and 24-inch pipes can now benefit from the only insertable gate valve with the superior performance and reliability you would expect from the Insta-Valve name.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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![wastewater ecological damage-GettyImages-2231956262]( "The Pragmatic Shift In Source Water Protection: Moving From Symptom Management To Root-Cause Accountability")
A shift in how we approach source water protection is long overdue. Currently, we are trapped in a cycle of escalating costs, forced to treat symptoms like algae and invasive weeds expediently with chemicals while the underlying risk in the reservoir compounds. True risk management requires breaking this cycle.
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![River water pollution, Ecological-GettyImages-1215336784]( "The AWWA Said $2.4 Trillion. It Missed The Compound Interest.")
Einstein once said of compound interest, "He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn't, pays it." The same logic of compounding applies to the organic sediment accumulating on the floor of your drinking water reservoir. The longer you wait to address it, the more exponentially expensive it becomes to fix. -
![snowystream-Getty-521971897]( "Winter's Alarmingly Low Snowpack Offers A Glimpse Of The Changing Rhythm Of Water In The Western U.S.")
The April 1 snowpack measurement has long been the single most important number in western water management, considered a strong proxy for how much water the mountains are holding in reserve. But in 2026, that savings account has been woefully deficient. -
![ColoradoRiverDam_Getty-1280300802]( "Why Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, And How They Could Resume With The Possibility Of Agreement")
Why Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, And How They Could Resume With The Possibility Of AgreementThe five most common sources of conflict between people are values, data, relationships, interests, and structure. The current Colorado River negotiations include all five. -
![Water droplets, PFAS, Forever chemical water contamination-GettyImages-2173433890]( "Designing Resilient PFAS Treatment Strategies For Water Agencies")
Water agencies across the U.S. are facing a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that poses a conundrum: Should they take a cautious or aggressive approach to treating PFAS contamination in their water system? -
![Oil spill clean up-GettyImages-1369921282]( "The Future Of In Situ Chemical Oxidation For Targeted Solvent Destruction")
The U.S. EPA’s 2026 trichloroethylene (TCE) compliance deadlines are now forcing a concrete shift toward source-zone destruction. In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO), sequenced with enhanced bioremediation, is proving to be the most credible path to groundwater contaminant rebound mitigation.
DRINKING WATER VIDEOS
Why have only 20% of water utilities deployed an AMI fixed network? If you are considering a fixed network, I've got something you seriously need to consider prior to soliciting quotations or putting out your RFP. The question is, who is going to manage the network infrastructure? Do you have qualified individuals within your utility ready to continuously monitor, maintain and manage the network? In this video, we're going to discuss some of the options available for water utilities today: a utility managed network versus a network as a service agreement (NaaS).
As utilities worldwide face mounting pressure from drought, water scarcity, and tightening regulations, this webinar explores how validated, chemical-free UV solutions are reshaping disinfection across surface water, wastewater, desalination, and potable reuse.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.